Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Monday, September 30, 2013

KAT AND MOUSE: Tales of Episode #208
Second round of revisions continue.

KAT AND MOUSE: Tales of Episode #209
Prelim wordage in longhand via Ninja Writing*. No idea how many words, though. Further info once I type up my scrawlings. Going with Ninja Writing for the time being.

Bay City PD Story
Still making notes on this.

Jericho Thingie Compilation
Still formatting. Still slow going.

Pulp Adventure Yarn
Currently on hold.

Military SF Yarn
Currently on hold. Also, still figuring out story details. This one might take a while.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Fellow writer and AWer Joshua Roots has himself a book coming out next month from Carina Press and it sounds like it'll be a helluva read.

Check out the cover:

And a little bit about the book:The job was simple: decapitate the zombie, get paid, get out. Warlock Marcus Shifter followed the plan perfectly.

The corpse, however, did not.

Now there’s a body on the loose, accusations of illegal necromancy are flying, and the answers are waiting in the perilous alleys between the mortal and paranormal worlds. They’re no place for someone who mostly gave up magic after a childhood accident. And given his tendency to shoot off his mouth and his Glock, Marcus is having a hell of a time digging up more than just bodies.

When an apocalypse-minded megalomaniac threatens Marcus’s family, things get personal. Marcus will have to embrace the magic he’s been avoiding for years—and even that might not be enough to save the world from a hellish demise.

But the idea behind it is still the same: ban the private ownership of firearms.

They won't say it outright.

But if you look closer at their policies, you'll see it.

And why do they want to ban the private ownership of firearms?

"Firearms contribute to violence," they'll say. "If you own a firearm, then you contribute to violence. But if you remove the firearm, then you remove the violence."

And how do you remove the firearm?

You pass legislation that bans ownership of a firearm.

Sounds reasonable, right?

But what Gun Control Advocates either continually forget or blatantly ignore is the fact that there are people in our society who will not follow those laws. There are members of our population who will disobey.

They're called criminals.

The same ones who burglarize, rob, rape, and murder.

Consider this: there are laws against murder, right?

Yet murders still happen.

Why?

Because someone isn't obeying the law.

What makes a law banning private possession of a firearm more "obey-able" than a law prohibiting the murder of another person?

Why would someone who willingly commits rape, robbery, and murder suddenly say "ZOMG! A law prohibiting the private ownership of firearms. I will continue to rape and rob and murder but I must--simply MUST--follow this one."

When you take a closer look at the issue, beyond the emotional arguments and the scaremongering, you'll find that Gun Control Advocates don't care one whit about punishing those who commit crimes.

They just don't want you, the private, law-abiding citizen, to have firearms.

The problem I'm going to talk about comes right out of the post title and a section further into the post.

First, the title.

America: Where It's Okay to Regulate Women, But Not Guns

By couching the title in this fashion, Ms. Ryan (the author) appears to be implying that in America, guns are not regulated.

She further continues this implication in the following section where she writes:

A normal person with a brain that works would conclude, based on the prevalence of mass shootings by people who should not have access to guns, that maybe some measure should be taken to prevent that from happening. Background checks. Waiting periods. Registries. Assault weapons bans. Something! But the backlash of the gun lobby has been so virulent that in April, less than 6 months after twenty kids were fucking shot to death in Connecticut, the Democratic-controlled Senate failed to pass a law that would require background checks.

Now I'm saying that Ms. Ryan is implying the lack of gun regulation because her words, so far, are doing just that. Her title "tells" us America regulates women but not guns. She then cries out that measures need to be taken to prevent mass shootings and gives a list of such measures because, obviously, no such measures exist. Furthermore, as she "points out" in the last sentence of the above quote, a law that would require background checks was not passed.

Ahem.

Ms. Ryan, you're lying to your readers.

Is it intentional?

Can't tell.

I would've expected Ms. Ryan to do some research into her chosen topic before writing this post. If she had, she would've known guns are regulated in America.

That's just federal firearm laws. Each state has its own set of laws, too. For instance, New York, where Ms. Ryan hails from (according to her LinkedIn listing), lists its firearm laws under Articles 265 and 400 of the state's penal code. And that's just for the state proper. New York City has its own set of firearm laws.

Not regulated? No background check?

I call "bullshit."

Shall I continue?

Okay.

The next "measure" Ms. Ryan calls for is a waiting period. As she points out:

if you're not stable enough to mentally withstand the agony of waiting a few days to get your mitts on a gun, then maybe you are not mentally stable enough to own a gun

We'll go to New York for this one, since it's Ms. Ryan's neighborhood.

The state requires anyone who wants to buy a handgun to first get a license. Under Article 400 4-a, the licensing officer

shall act upon any application for a license pursuant to this section within six months of the date of presentment of such an application to the appropriate authority.

Based on this, it appears someone can wait up to six months just to get permission to purchase a handgun.

Hm. I don't know about you but that sounds like a "waiting period" to me.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Monday, July 15, 2013

KAT AND MOUSE: Tales of Episode #208
No actual story words but I did get more plotting and back story bits worked out. I'm planning to get back into the actual writing this week.

Jericho Thingie Compilation
The formatting has begun and is progressing nicely. I'm looking at possible release of mid-August. Maybe early part of September. We'll see how things shape up.

Now I just have to design a cover.

Pulp Adventure Yarn
Ready to get writing.

Probably after Episdoe #208.

Military SF Yarn
Worldbuilding continues apace. Plus, I have a plot skeleton and back story bits working themselves out nicely. I have a few details to check on but I think in another week or so I'll have enough material to get a decent start on the actual writing.

In addition to being a place for release announcements (yes, there will be upcoming releases), informational posts, and the occasional soapbox post, I'm also planning some ongoing-type content. I'm going to thank my fellow AWer, Kricket, for giving me the idea based on this post from her blog.

Here's the plan...

MONDAY PROGRESS REPORT: Every Monday I'll post a progress report on the current projects. It'll cover word counts, new things in the Writing Hopper, and various other writing observations.WOMEN WITH WEAPONS WEDNESDAY: Since I tend to write about ass-kicking women who wield a wide variety of lethal implements, I figured I would showcase such women on the blog. Ergo, every Wednesday will be Women With Weapons Wednesday.*

And there you have it.

Okay...back to work for me.

*Yes, this is much like the old "Chicks With Guns" feature I ran a few years ago. I'm just bringing it back, y'all.

PW: Having known him the longest, I'd say it's pretty much par for the course.

AD: The longest? Now look here. I was there when he wrote his senior project.

ADR: And I was there when he was sitting at that desk at the foot of the bunk bed listening to Star Wars on that old radio/cassette recorder. Remember? Not to mention when he picked up that single cassette version of the Hitchhiker's Guide radio drama.

PW: But where you there when his mom and dad got him the ventriloquist dummy and his dad introduced him to Mel Blanc?

AD: Uh...

ADR: Well...

PW: And where you there when he tape-recorded the audiotrack from the Starvengers cartoon (aka Getter Robo G) off Showtime and played it over and over and over and mimicked each of the characters? Or see his face when he and his friends recorded the audio track for his cheesy no-budget kung fu short film?

ADR: Hm. You have a point.

AD: Agreed.

PW: Besides, when he launched his self-named website, do you remember what he started with?

AD: Oh yeah.

ADR: Yeah, I remember.

PW: (laughs) I didn't even show up on the page until December of '09!

AD: Really? Even though he's been scribbling since--

PW: Yeah. Even though that.

AD: Wow.

PW: I wasn't kidding.

ADR: So it's not flipping.

PW: Or flopping. He just keeps circling back. Ever since that first class in, what was it, late '97? '98? And then the other classes with Elaine and Terry and Kathy and all.

ADR: Wasn't that around '01.

PW: Yeah, around then.

AD: Twelve years.

PW: Fifteen, sixteen. If you count that first class.

AD: You think you'll eventually get ousted, PW?

PW: Doubt it. He'll still be scribbling. Mine will probably be slow-going, especially if the status of the serial is any indication. ADR over there gets more play than I do.

LEGAL BITS

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